Tunis - The Venice Commission, in cooperation with the Presidency of the Government of Tunisia, organised the 8th UniDem Med regional seminar from 24 to 27 September 2018 in Tunis, Tunisia. The seminar entitled “Transformation and Innovation in the Senior Civil Service: challenges and opportunities” gathered some 50 senior servants and experts from 11 European and southern Mediterranean countries, namely Algeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine* and Tunisia. They exchanged best practices as regards the process of innovation in the civil service against a backdrop of respect for rule of law and basic civil service values and principles.

Besides, the seminar explored ways to instil leadership and excellence in the senior civil service with regard to recruitment, management of competencies and evaluation as well as the way new public management can contribute for improved democratic governance and better accountability before the citizens.

The main objective of the UniDem Med Campus (University for Democracy) is to contribute through peer-to-peer exchanges to the modernisation of the administration in the southern Mediterranean by enforcing law and consolidating institutions. The project aims to strengthen the legal capacities of senior civil servants in areas related to good governance, rule of law and human rights as well as to strengthen the links between the public administrations from the region.

The UniDem Med Campus is funded by the Council of Europe – European Union Joint Project “Ensuring Sustainable Democratic Governance and Human Rights in the Southern Mediterranean” South Programme III (2018-2020)

The working languages of this seminar were French, English and Arabic.______________________________________________________________* This designation shall not be construed as recognition of a State of Palestine and is without prejudice to the individual positions of Council of Europe member States on this issue.